Nasdaq CFO ties AI rollout to finance training and returns

Nasdaq CFO Sarah Youngwood is requiring finance employees to build artificial intelligence skills as the company embeds the technology in internal operations and client products. Fortune reported that the effort includes a belt-based training program meant to turn AI from a side project into a routine capability inside the finance function.

Under the program, Nasdaq finance staff earn levels of AI proficiency modeled on martial arts belts, according to Fortune. Youngwood has required every employee on the finance team to reach at least the white-belt level, and she wants 20% of the group to eventually reach black-belt status.

Youngwood, Nasdaq’s executive vice president and chief financial officer, told Fortune that the company should take a lead role in showing how AI can be used in finance. She said her goal is to build what she described as an AI-first finance function.

Finance lens on AI spending

Youngwood told Fortune that AI can strengthen financial forecasting by combining macroeconomic assumptions, pipeline information and management actions to support faster decisions. She also said the technology can affect areas ranging from cash allocation to invoice processing, while requiring governance and human review.

Her approach reflects a career spent in senior finance roles. Fortune reported that Youngwood joined Nasdaq as CFO in 2023 after more than two decades at JPMorgan Chase, where her posts included CFO of consumer and community banking, head of investor relations and CFO of global technology. She also served as CFO of UBS Group.

Youngwood told Fortune that finance teams control large amounts of corporate data, making them central to AI work. She evaluates AI investment through return on invested capital, according to Fortune, rather than treating the technology as a separate experiment.

Nasdaq’s framework starts with employee engagement, including whether staff complete training and use AI tools, Fortune reported. The company then looks at speed gains, such as faster workflows or development cycles, before measuring financial outcomes including revenue growth, cost efficiency and productivity.

Data work came first

Fortune reported that Nasdaq also sorts investments by time horizon, from foundational needs such as cybersecurity to short-term return projects, medium-term bets and longer-term research and development. Youngwood applies that structure to AI spending across the company’s portfolio.

Nasdaq spent the past two years standardizing data definitions, centralizing information and building dashboards that can support more advanced AI uses, according to Fortune. Youngwood said that clean data is needed before generative AI can be used effectively.

Fortune reported that older investments in cloud infrastructure and early AI capabilities now support Nasdaq’s generative AI efforts. Youngwood said those earlier investments helped position the company for the current phase of AI adoption, even though the full path was not visible at the time.

Nasdaq ranked No. 470 on the Fortune 500 this year, Fortune reported, returning to the list five years after its 2021 debut. The company, once known mainly as a stock exchange, now operates as a software and technology provider for financial firms, with about 10,000 employees worldwide and roughly half working in product and technology, according to Fortune.

Youngwood told Fortune that AI is being applied across processes for both Nasdaq and its clients. Fortune cited Nasdaq Verafin’s Agentic AI Workforce platform, launched last year, as one example, reporting that 650 financial institutions now use it.

The company’s AI push comes as Nasdaq remains a major venue for public listings. Fortune reported that SpaceX went public on Nasdaq on June 12 in what it described as the largest IPO in history. Youngwood is also participating in the belt program herself, with Fortune reporting that she is on track to reach yellow belt next month and plans to advance to green.

This story draws on original reporting from Fortune.